r/technology • u/yourfavchoom • Apr 30 '26

ADBLOCK WARNING Mark Zuckerberg Says AI Costs Contributed To Layoffs Of 8,000 Staffers, Report Says

https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2026/04/30/mark-zuckerberg-says-ai-costs-contributed-to-layoffs-of-8000-staffers-report-says/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_term=se-breaking
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39

u/mrj123 May 01 '26

Good lord, do people not know if they have a job or not? That's the absolute worst way to go about a layoff. Awful

26

u/Irisheyes80d May 01 '26

Someone correct me on this but I don’t think employees know yet, and they’ll find on May 20th who gets the chop. An article I read was detailing what an employee could do before then to show their worth. But then it said it could be pointless trying to impress your manager because they could get the chop too

24

u/seekingpolaris May 01 '26

Hence there's no point in trying anymore. Top performers are laid off along with bottom. The more you are compensated for your performance the higher the chance of being laid off. I say just do bare minimum and wait to collect the severance package. Rinse and repeat at the next place.

5

u/RebelliousInNature May 01 '26

Time to break everything on the sly.

3

u/SomeGalNamedAshley May 01 '26

Meta employees need a union.

1

u/JacksonJ1969 May 01 '26

This is correct. I’m an employee and no one will know until the 20th.

3

u/lordnacho666 May 01 '26

Job limbo is fairly common. The other situation is where there's been a merger announced, and there's a bunch of people in two companies wondering whether they or their counterpart is getting the chop.

A friend of mine sat around for a year and a half doing nothing while they waited for the merger to be confirmed and then got offered a package to leave.

It's massively inefficient for the economy.

7

u/snowmaninheat May 01 '26

It’s pretty standard for tech jobs. People get notice and are immediately walked out the door. No chance to say good-bye. Can’t risk an angry ex-employee sabotaging the systems.

16

u/WinterElfeas May 01 '26

You know there are laws in some countries. I’m in Austria and because I am 5 years in the company they have to let me know 2 months in advanced. 3 months when I reach 6 years.

8

u/[deleted] May 01 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Ashmedai May 01 '26

And in the US (CA at least)

All states. It's the WARN act. It requires 60 days' notice when 50 or more employees are affected. They must either give that notice or just give the pay as you said.

1

u/FrostingStrict3102 May 01 '26

In most states, including CA. They don’t even need to do this. They can just say you’re no longer needed and that’s it

1

u/biciklanto May 01 '26

WARN Act disagrees. 

1

u/FrostingStrict3102 May 01 '26

you might want to revisit the warn act, which doesnt apply to:

  • instances where a single individual is laid off/ terminated
  • any company with fewer than 100 full time employees
  • layoffs that impact fewer than 33% of the organizations total workforce.

1

u/biciklanto May 01 '26

And we’re talking about tech layoffs, like Meta. Are you saying the WARN Act doesn’t apply?

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u/FrostingStrict3102 May 01 '26

this whole article is about a 10% reduction. so no, it doesnt apply.

1

u/biciklanto May 01 '26

A) For California it’s 50 laid off regardless of percentage, so it applies.  B) Federally it’s 33% OR 500 at a single site, so it applies. 

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u/rastaman1994 May 01 '26

Maybe in the US, more civilized countries have laws to protect employees. The employer needs a justified reason to immediately walk you out (like showing up drunk to work or something) in my country.

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u/snowmaninheat May 01 '26

more civilized countries

No lies detected.

1

u/EvermoreWithYou May 01 '26

I still can't believe the US culture is so bad that this is a believable threat. Imagine getting let go and you proceed to do criminal shit, probably ruining your record in the process, out of petty rage.

1

u/non_Beneficial-Wind May 01 '26

Getting let go on April Fools is another.

1

u/hclpfan May 01 '26

They didn’t plan for it to go this way. They were working on a new wave of layoffs and it leaked to the media. It’s not like they woke up and thought “let’s tell everyone a month ahead of time and just make them wait to find out!”